Worst paint schemes

[Anonymous]

Everyone has a favorite scheme. Let's hear about the ugly ones. I vote for Penn Central.

[eolafan]

I'll repeat here what I said earlier about my favorite schemes, there are no great or ugly schemes, as they (in my opinion at least) are all good as long as they are on an operating unit and that unit is reasonably clean. I grew up in the NYC metro area so saw a lot of PC units, and they were no worse than the original NS units (those without the horse). Jim

[cabforward]

i will not say a scheme is ugly, i just dont understand the selection of color.. the weirdest was erie-lackawana's '50s passenger motif.. i recall an odd lite green, a metallic coat that stood out but did not impress.. that and the emblem is all i remember, not even if there was a second color..

[cbq9911a]

I vote for Metra (Chicago commuter rail). Ugly combination of blue and orange on the locos. Uninspired gray paint with orange and brown stripes on the smooth sided cars. Basic black would be an improvement.

[Anonymous]

PC's dip black; NS dip black; CSX "stealth dip gray; Union RR's old apple green (Blech!). One of the oddest was Escanaba & Lake Superior's BLW VO 1000 as delivered in yellow with two different colored stripes near the top of the hood. (pale green and red or something).

[BRAKIE]

Gotta be the LS&BC hot pink!

[csxns]

FRISCO

[wallywalkabout]

As a former RR'er, B&M, I think that ugly schemes are subjective. I like the new Guilford paint schemes better. There is nothing more "Ugly" than a filthy head-end, no matter what their paint scheme is.
Stay cool!

[UPTRAIN]

Mostly CR "rainbow days" and hey man don't talk bout my frisco besides UP/MP my favorite railroad. Frisco had the best paint scheme for Steam Locomotives!!! besides southern "Cresent" case closed

[Anonymous]

I really liked MOST of the 1970's Bi-Centennial paint jobs, but Conrails GG-1 4800, looked like Bozo the clown meets catenary. This was the gaudiest, worst designed scheme ever applied to a GG-1. It looked as if a 4 year old got carried away with his finger-painting set.
Second choice goes to, SPSF "Kodachrome". The merger was doomed, as well as the paint scheme. How did they ever think they could maintain that hot pink color given SP's reputation for the worse looking locomotives on the planet?
Third pick, CSX's all grey "stealth" scheme. This was really a statement of the bleak future that management had for railroading at the time. Not to mention being a safety hazard. On a foggy day these units just blended into the atmosphere. The "stealth" monicker was well earned, in this point. I wonder how many lives could have been saved if the CSX corporate bean-counters had approved a little more money for a brighter paint job on their engines.
Before anybody says anything about "stop-look-and-listen", let me remind you that this is a day of cell phones, loud stereos, and total ignorance on the road. I've seen some of these drivers, they wouldn't be phased a bit if the battleship Missouri fired a salvo across their hood. But, you can't cure ignorance, just hope that no more innocent lives are lost due to stupidity.
Todd C.

[Anonymous]

Worst scheme ever....the first scheme after the BN became the Big New Santa Fe. We affectionately called it the vomit bonnet. It used the same colors of the BN's "executive," scheme, in the Santa Fe's war bonnet motif. Puke!

[Anonymous]

That thing was so Ugly!!! I think they painted it that color so no one would steal it. Do you recall what brand it was? Was that a Baldwin?
TIM A

[Anonymous]

NYC/PC Green

[BRAKIE]

It was a Baldwin S12...The last time I saw this unit was on the TTI at Maysville Ky.

[eolafan]

Excuse me for disagreeing with you, but somehow I find the old Green and Creme executive scheme a lot nicer to the eye than the Pre-faded "peach" (as opposed to "pumpkin" scheme) on some of the Dash 9 units).

[Anonymous]

Yes Sir I will agree with you on that. One nice thing about the Pumkin paint scheme, its bold and loud which is what they needed for the merger to work.
TIM A

[eolafan]

I certainly would like to have seen an F-45 or FP-45 painted in either the pumpkin or executive scheme (would have preferred pumpkin in this case). Too bad that will now never happen!

[Anonymous]

Did they get rid of them? I thought they still had some out west and in Power back up storage for peek train use?

[Anonymous]

N&W black and white. NS black and white with horse's a**. CSX dip grey stealth. PRR dip brunswick green with tiny herald. Guilford.

[Anonymous]

Anything Amtrac
TIM A

[Anonymous]

James, you didn't read closely. I too like the "executive," scheme. What I'm talkin' about is a "vomit bonnet." I was on one awhile back. I think that only one or two were painted like this. It was a war bonnet type scheme in the green and cream colors. You have to see it to appreciate it.

[Anonymous]

I forgot to say, it was on a 70MAC.

[eolafan]

Yes, I know exactly the scheme you are speaking of and I (excuse me for disagreeing with you) did not find it all that bad. Sorry.

[eolafan]

Last I heard was that they had all been sent to the scrappers yard. There was a picture of one of them in TRAINS mag. in (I recall) K.C. at a scrapper. There are many SD40-2 units (and other more "standard" units in storage in Minneapolis, St. Paul and other places but I don't believe the F45/FP45 units made it to these lines. Jim

[Anonymous]

Hey, man. Everybody has their right to their opinion. I just found that scheme a bit less appealing than some. Actually, I don't really pay much attention. That unit just cought my eye. I was embarassed to ride in it. lol.

[edbenton]

I have to agree with you on the shound not paint so fast scheme as we called it. The fact that most SP units burn the paint off in the Dynamic brake areas would have made those units look like leprosy units very quick. The scheme probaly woulde have been changed to rust in about 3 yrs or less considxdering the fact that SF had pride in the fleet at the time that would have been a very sorry state of affairs.

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

Worst scheme would be experimental on IHB consisting of jade green with red lightning stripe and herald. CSX "stealth" is also in the running.

[Anonymous]

Has anyone posted a photo of this paint scheme anywhere?

[eolafan]

You might try going to www.bnsfpix.com and clicking on their "roster" area where you can get shots of very many SD70MAC units, and I believe a few are shown in this scheme.

[eolafan]

On http://www.bnsfpix.com/ you will need to click on "roster" and then on the second SD70MAC grouping of shots, then click on unit number 9647 and you will find three shots of this experimental scheme. Click on the small images to enlarge them.